Narrative:

New aircraft [from delivery from boeing]. Located at our maintenance facility. During pre-delivery modifications of aircraft after delivery from boeing aircraft company. During these modifications; maintenance personnel are advised to remove and destroy as per safety regulations; the 11 on-board ppe or pbe's (personnel breathing equipment) that came with the aircraft from boeing; to be replaced with a different style that our company installs during the pre-delivery of the aircraft. During this destruction of the pbe the maintenance personnel are told to open and then activate the pbe's before disposing of them locally. While trying to open the sealed vacuum packing wrap around the pbe; nine (9) times the handle ripped off without opening the sealed vacuum packaging wrap. Only two (2) times did the handle open the pbe sealed package properly. Maintenance personnel had to use pocket knives to open the other nine sealed containers that did not open.

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Original NASA ASRS Text

Title: A Maintenance Technician reported factory installed PBEs were removed per company instructions; activated; and then disposed. Nine of the eleven PBE packages that failed during attempted opening were then opened with pocket knives.

Narrative: New aircraft [from delivery from Boeing]. Located at our maintenance facility. During pre-delivery modifications of aircraft after delivery from Boeing aircraft company. During these modifications; maintenance personnel are advised to remove and destroy as per safety regulations; the 11 on-board PPE or PBE's (Personnel Breathing Equipment) that came with the aircraft from Boeing; to be replaced with a different style that our company installs during the pre-delivery of the aircraft. During this destruction of the PBE the maintenance personnel are told to open and then activate the PBE's before disposing of them locally. While trying to open the sealed vacuum packing wrap around the PBE; nine (9) times the handle ripped off without opening the sealed vacuum packaging wrap. Only two (2) times did the handle open the PBE sealed package properly. Maintenance personnel had to use pocket knives to open the other nine sealed containers that did not open.

Data retrieved from NASA's ASRS site and automatically converted to unabbreviated mixed upper/lowercase text. This report is for informational purposes with no guarantee of accuracy. See NASA's ASRS site for official report.